The Rugby Thread

[Buzzo]

Strange losing a game......first loss in professional rugby for Ryan. Aussies had the skills to capitalize on errors - Folau, Beale and the back row superb.

Hopefully we’ll have a fully fit team next week.

Wasn’t far off a full team today, and a strong bench

Was a competitive game but you weren’t really getting in behind them. The Aussies played well tbf, and were making some decent breaks, they deserved the win. Should be a cracking second test.

I think in top level test rugby now nothing less than 100% gets the win. I don’t think there is all that much between the top 9 teams.

[Buzzo]

Some game here Boks v England. Try fest.

[Buzzo]

Wow - what a half hour of Rugby.

England blitz three try’s to take a big lead SA bounce back with 3.

22-24.

[Buzzo]

The boks scrum half with the 80s blonde mullet is good.

Boks take the lead. Madness. Some great try’s here. 7 in the first half...!

England rocking.

[Buzzo]

England have no defence. Bizarre.

[Buzzo]

Mako off for 10 so England down to 14.

Boks 39-27 which is some response from 3-24 down.

[Buzzo]

Itoje try. England finally get some possession and territory.

Farrell chokes the conversion 39-32.

[Buzzo]

Would be interested to see the pen count. England’s discipline has been poor.

[Buzzo]

Brilliant try from May.

42-39

**** all time left but game on. Amazing match.

[Buzzo]

Full time. Wow.

[Zapater]

Outstanding game, had an opportunity to go but opted out as I thought the whole ordeal would be a bit pricey, somewhat regret it now. Faf de Klerk the man of the match by far, he's come on leaps and bounds in the last year. The quick ball he was supplying was the difference. Duane Vermeulen was also excellent. Pollard could have been clinical with the boot but it definitely gives something to build on.

I don't like the centre combination. I've always considered de Allende largely **** and overrated. He's a strong runner, but he kills his 13 as he never passes, his capacity to offload is the only reason he gets picked IMO. Not sure about Am, was fairly indifferent today, but I think Jesse Kriel is an extremely uninspired player and don't want to see him. Hopefully Frans Steyn is available for the next test, but there's definitely something dodgy going on there how he got excluded from the squad. Best player we have though, in my estimation he'd be on par or better at 15, 12, 13 and 10 than what's currently on offer.

First hard game the Boks have won for some time. Not bad considering it's a new team and it's the first real game of the international season. Rassie has a lot to do, but I'm positive there will be fewer mistakes moving forward. England can't say the same. Although, their backline is so explosive at the start of the game it is always a danger. That Jonny May try at the end of the game was unbelievable especially when you consider his prolonged acceleration at altitude.

[Buzzo]

To come back from 24-3 down is definitely impressive.

It was a strange game, at times very, very open and in a way that must concern Eddie Jones in particular. It’s not very England to be shipping so many tries.

Next weeks match is huge, because England are on 4 defeats (plus the Barbarians defeat) in a row. They seem to have lost cohesion and their discipline is shocking. Lose again and it will start to become a worry for them. Their kicking was **** today also which is very unusual.

Eddie Jones mocked free flowing Rugby before playing us in the 6N. Ironically it is getting dragged into open games lacking in structure that is doing for England. They have lost the ability to hold teams in their vice like grip. It will be interesting to see how they approach the next test.

[Zapater]

As far as I'm concerned, South Africa should never lose to England at home. The calibre of player and pedigree of the team should put us head and shoulders above. I know that we've gone downhill horrendously in the last few years but I still maintain this. NZ, Australia and South Africa; under no circumstances should be losing home games to northern hemisphere opponents and should be winning the majority of away games too. Look at how over the hill or second tier southern hill players dominate European club competitions.

England are having a bit of a nightmare, but if anything that's a good result at Ellis Park, despite them dropping the ball. It was one of those games that was completely frantic in the first. Rassie did well to maintain territorial advantage so well in the second half. I don't think Jones should make wholesale changes as the players individually are quite decent. They displayed negligence which they were punished for, but the same can be said for SA - de Allende/Pollard were horrendous with those missed tackles for England's first.

Keep in mind that this is one of the most inexperienced South African teams ever. I think that 8 or 9 of those players had less than 5 caps and there were several debuts. Made up for Dyantyi and Nkosi grabbing tries on their debuts. Dyantyi has been very good in Super Rugby this season so deserves it. And also worth noting that even some of the experienced players are far from established. Faf de Klerk was dropped because he couldn't play the type of rugby Coetzee plays, he's great with attacking like today, but playing conservatively doesn't suite him. Willie le Roux lost form and left SA somewhat disgraced, Pollard's had injuries and de Allende has always been in and out of the set up.

[Buzzo]

I will be interested to read your report on the next game

Another thing I noted was a few lockable pens missed by both teams today.

Don’t know if you saw this but typical ABs refereeing today getting all the decisions. This double ‘tackle’ left Grosso with a double skull fracture. No cards shown

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=e836DY-gopU

[Irishnev]

Wasn’t far off a full team today, and a strong bench

Was a competitive game but you weren’t really getting in behind them. The Aussies played well tbf, and were making some decent breaks, they deserved the win. Should be a cracking second test.

I think in top level test rugby now nothing less than 100% gets the win. I don’t think there is all that much between the top 9 teams.

So for me - Ringrose, Sexton, Leavy, Cronin, McGrath & Furlong would be starters and they were all missing last week. Yes some came off the bench but we played a bit into the Aussies hands.

Added to that Pocock & Hooper were unsurprisingly a menace at the break down, those guys need to be smashed out of every ruck so we can get fast ball. I think we'll beat them this weekend tbh and set up a decider next week